If You Are Not On Steroids, Train Every Muscle Group Twice A Week To Grow Bigger & Stronger

Everybody in the gym has a different take on training for hypertrophy aka 'muscle size badana'. Most gym bros do what has been etched in stone by desi gym trainers. They work one muscle group once a week. You might know it as the 'bro split'. This comes down from old school bodybuilding wisdom and is being passed on till date. Just because the pros did it back in the day, we should do it too, right? No, absolutely wrong.

First things First, You Aren't A Professional Bodybuilder. Stop Training Like One.

While idolizing a professional bodybuilder is all good, trying to mimic his training and nutrition is outright dumb. Why? Firstly, everyone is built differently. Your genetics are not like his. You process food differently than he does. His musculature and bone structure aren't like yours. The human body is like finger prints—nobody is alike. Secondly, most professionals you idolize are on steroids. Once on steroids, the game changes entirely. Your muscle protein synthesis doubles up, nutrition partitioning becomes better and muscle recovery goes through the roof. Sum it all up and you grow bigger and stronger in a very short time. Yes of course, all this comes with side effects that 90% of you will never be able to cope with. Hence, stop mimicking the bodybuilders.

How Muscle Growth Works For Natural Guys

Building muscle naturally takes time, a long time in fact. You have to be patient. Sometimes you have to bear with looking a little fluffy and spend longer time 'not' training than you would have thought. More work doesn't mean more muscle.

1) Train Each Muscle When It Is Ready To Be Trained. Never Sooner And Never Later.

The above line was popularized by world renowned powerlifter and PhD Fred Hatfield. Decipher the line and you will come to a conclusion that different muscle groups recover differently. Now a ton of researches have proven that it takes round about 24-72 hours for every muscle to fully recover. Taking this into account, every natural lifter is ready to train the same muscle group after 24-72 hours. Then why only train a muscle group once a week, when you can reap twice as much benefit by hitting it twice a week? Likewise, if you hammer a muscle group that requires 72 or more hours of rest in less than 24 hours, you are just limiting your progress. Muscle like the abs, forearms and rear deltoids recover rather quickly while, pectorals and hamstrings can take longer.

2) Nothing Is Set In Stone. Identify Your Recovery Time.

Leading from the point above, most natural lifters fail to grow big because they don't recover enough because they don't pay attention to each muscle recovery time. It's all in your hands, pay attention to your training and see how well you recover. You have to find a middle ground as to where you find yourself recovering well while not training too much and training too little.

3) An Understanding That Can Be Drawn Keeping In Mind The Above Points

a) You can hit muscle like the biceps, lateral delts, rear delts and the calves at least 4 times a week.

b) Keep chest, quads, hamstrings and front deltoids for 2 days a week.

c) Back can be hit 3 times a week.

Note- This is just a general guideline. Remember, nothing is set in stone.

4) Sample Workout

Monday- Chest, Shoulders, Back

Tuesday- Off

Wednesday- Legs And Arms

Thursday- Off

Friday- Chest, Shoulder, Back

Saturday- Legs And Arms

Pro tip- Pick the big lifts in the above workout for every muscle group and focus on progressive overload with correct form.